Heartbeat: The power of research – a reflection from the frontline
December 29, 2020
In 2020, Dr Leila Fares joined SWB as a clinical trials pharmacist. Little did she know the year that would unfold ahead of her, nor did she realise the role she had stepped into would play such a pivotal part in this pandemic.
Before joining SWB, Dr Fares worked in a community based pharmacy setting from 1999 – 2020. Before that, she had completed her PhD at Birmingham University in biosciences and, this year decided that she wanted to embark on a new challenge.
Looking back, Dr Fares remarked: “I joined the Trust in February. It was an exciting opportunity for me as I joined after spending many years working in a community pharmacy setting. As much as I was worried about moving into secondary care, the prospect of working in clinical research was irresistible. Having a background in scientific research, I always aspired to carve a career out in clinical trials and research.
“Six weeks into my new role, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 as an international pandemic. It was inevitable that a new virus with no established effective treatment and no vaccine would make unusual demands on health systems, especially those related to clinical research activities.”
Dr Fares continued: “As a novice clinical trial member, I was blindsided by how much I hadn’t known about hospital pharmacy and clinical trials. I needed to get my training and competencies up to speed as I was keen to be actively engaged in the fight against COVID‐19 and to help the team attain their targets and succeed. I needed to have adequate learning time and available training opportunities which I did.”
Looking back to the start of the pandemic, Dr Fares recalls the speed at which we introduced new COVID-19 trials as being remarkable. “Witnessing the simultaneous initiation of many trials and being involved in the collaborative work that took place between different health and research professionals to accomplish many trial setups and management was impressive.”
Like all of us, the clinical trials teams have had to adapt to how they work and quickly. “The issues the clinical trial community faced were unprecedented. We have all adjusted, adapted, found new methods of working and implemented new processes into clinical trials. Like many others, we had to transition to online research meetings, virtual discussions and visits. Zoom, WebEx and Microsoft Teams have become the norm.
“I am proud that as a team we found ways to approach and cope with challenges. We successfully set up two of the largest trials (Recovery and Remap-cap) alongside many others, and we continue to deliver and manage those trials.”
So what have been the positives we asked? Dr Fares remarked: “As a new trial member, and despite the strange circumstances, I believe that I’ve adjusted rapidly. I’m blown away by the sense of camaraderie. The leadership, compassion, and dedication shown by my manager and research colleagues are truly humbling.
“For me, the past months have been about the workforce I am proud to be a part of. I must acknowledge the hard work that has been carried out by my colleagues in clinical trials, the wider pharmacy colleagues, the aseptic team, the EPMA team, the research nurses, the hospital clinical teams and the nurses of the infusion suite. They have repeatedly stepped up, worked across new teams and shared their expertise and insights to deliver a high-quality service.
“The changes and the pace at which we have achieved them show the strength of our current model of care delivery to achieve a common goal. There can be no doubt that fostering such an attitude of dedication will make us come out the other side of this pandemic stronger and better prepared to face future challenges.”